MEASUREMENT METHOD FOR CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF THE CONDITION OF MATERIALS

Abstract: In a measurement method for monitoring of the condition of materials and equipment, a previously known property of a piezo sensor is used that converts a vibration to an electric impulse, the method allowing to receive emission, elastic waves, caused by changes in the energy fields of materials, especially acoustic emission, in the form of electric analog signals according to material-specific properties. The method includes a piezo sensor (4), from which the analog signal is passed through a cable (5) to a measuring unit (7), where the analogy signal contained in the current signal is filtered with a filter (9), whereafter the signal is transferred to a threshold value control (11), where only the current peaks exceeding the threshold are passed to a cumulative counter (12), from which the readings are transferred to a computer (13) to form a file, on the basis of which the development of the emission is displayed with an output device (16) on real-time basis.

Description: Measurement method for continuous monitoring of the condition of mate¬ rials The present invention relates to a measurement method indicating the structures and condition of materials, which method is based on acoustic emission and makes it possible to detect the changes taking place in the structures of materials starting from a diffusion with a size of one lattice pitch up to a macroscopic crack and to measure them in real time. By means of the method it is possible, by increasing the number of sensors, to subject an entire pressure vessel or container to a real-time condition monitoring, when it is desirable to survey the condition of their structures in respect of cracking and other faults during the use. The field of use of the method includes all materials emitting sound. By inspection methods nowadays in use, various inspections are performed for pressure vessels and containers at predetermined intervals. The most common methods are visual inspection and NDT inspections. Often the regulations and laws define the extent and quality of the inspection which must be carried out. In particular, containers under elevated pressure and those containing hazardous substances are inspected at intervals of ca. 3 to 5 years. Between the inspections, there is usually no kind of condition survey, but surprising explosions and leaks can often take place, resulting in unexpectedly high damages, even losses of human lives. The present inspection methods allow to determine existing construction defects, but their searching, for instance with NDT methods, is laborious and expensive. There are not many possibilities for monitoring the defects. Usually all welded constructions used in the industry contain existing defects which are permitted to a certain extent. The increase in the constructional defects of this kind cannot be surveyed with a sufficient precision during the use load on the construction. New construction defects which often are due to incorrect use situations, nucleate often slowly and in a concealed manner, and their detection by normal inspection methods is difficult. The method according to the invention provides a decisive improvement as far as the above-described drawbacks are concerned. For achieving this, the measurement method according to the invention is characterized by what is set forth in the characterizing portion of claim 1. Among the most important advantages of the invention can be mentioned the follow¬ ing facts: Materials can be monitored all the time within their whole area in a real-time fashion. The behaviour of the materials can be controlled, and consequently surprising accidents leading to catastrophes can not hap¬ pen. The repairs can consequently be projected in advance. The use of materials can be optimized by changing use conditions, whereby safer and longer use life is achieved. Direct inspection costs will be consider¬ ably diminished, because the object is every moment under survey. De- fects in the construction are detected in advance in the beginning, and they can be amended before they grow to a critical level. The method helps also to reveal leaks from containers, thus decreasing emissions to the nature. In the following, the invention will be described in more detail with refer¬ ence to the accompanying drawing. Fig. 1 shows schematically a measurement method where 1 represents the object io be measured, from which elastic sounds are discharged after a defect has occurred in the material. Elastic waves 3 emanating from a crack 2 depicted in the figure are propagated in the material to a piezoelectric sensor 4, where the elastic vibration is transformed into an electric signal, which is passed along a coaxial cable 5 to a pre¬ amplifier 6, where the signal is partly filtered and amplified so that electrical disturbances will not interfere with signals travelling in the cable when they are passed to a measuring unit 7. In the measuring unit, the signal is taken in as an analogic signal, from which the power supply and signal are separated by means of a separator 8. The signal is further passed through a filtering stage 9, after which it can still be amplified with an amplifier 10. The threshold voltage of the input of the measuring unit can be adjusted to a desired value using a potentiometer 11 , this operation allowing to vary the threshold value of incoming signals in accordance with limits specific to the material, whereby essential data can be registered cumulatively in a counter 12. The counter registers only those current peaks that have exceeded the threshold value. The counter 12 is read by a computer 13, by means of which the data are processed and formed into a file. The files are transmitted by means of a transmission program and using a modem 14 and telephone line 15 to a control computer, which shows the development of emission from each sensor cumulatively as a function of time displayed 16 in real time. The points of study of the output of each sensor are the frequency of occurrence of emission-generated current peaks that have exceeded the threshold value, count/s, and their cumulative sum. It should be especially noticed that in the measuring method according to the invention, the current impulses coming from the sensor are not conver¬ ted into a digital form, but they are treated only as an analog signal by means of a filter and an amplifier. Only filtered and restricted material specific data enter the computer processing, and the computer can transmit and construct graphic diagrams for each sensor about the development of emission on a real-time basis. Among different applica¬ tions of the measuring method of the invention can be mentioned an app- lication where various friction mechanisms such as the condition of slide bearings can be successfully measured through emission. Through a piezo sensor attached to the bearing support, a current impulse is generated at the moment of mutual contact of the bearing surfaces, which results in emission. The current impulses so obtained indicate the contacts of slide surfaces of the bearing in the form of an increase in the counter reading. In this way the condition of the bearing and its state of lubrication can be deduced, and the bearing can be changed according to predetermined criteria. The invention has been disclosed above only by referring to one of its most advantageous examples. This is, however, by no means intended to be a limitation of the invention to only this example, but many variations are possible within the scope of the inventional ideas defined by the fol¬ lowing claims. The use of a multivibrator 17 between the threshold value control unit 11 and the counter 12 can be mentioned as one advantageous alternative. The function of the multivibrator is known as such, and it is adapted to re¬ gulate the frequency of the incoming bursts for ensuring the correct func- tioning of the counter 12. The multivibrator 17 is adapted to transform the incoming peaks on the triggering principle into a square wave having a certain maximum frequency, for instance 100 kHz. If the incoming bursts have a higher frequency, the "extraneous" peaks do not cause a produce of the square wave, in this way the data entering the counter can be limited. At the input of the counter 12, the signal is analog, in the case of the multivibrator 17 in the form of square-wave pulses of certain height. The counter 12 counts in this way voltage pulses exceeding the predetermined threshold and originating from the threshold control 11. The computer reads the output of each sensor-specific counter at desired intervals in the form of a BCD number (binary coded decimal), i.e. after the counter 12 the data are processed digitally. In the file of the computer 13 is thereby recorded information about the count value of the counter at predetermined intervals for the survey. Further, it is possible to register the information if the change of the count value has exceeded the predetermined limit, which is the alarm limit. The counters, which each are connected to their respective sensors, can be connected to the same computer 13, each sensor 4 being allotted its own file.

Claims: Claims: 1. Measurement method for monitoring of the condition of mate¬ rials and equipment, utilizing a previously known property of a piezo sen- sor that converts a vibration to an electric impulse, the method allowing to receive emission, elastic waves caused by changes in the energy fields of materials, especially acoustic emission, in the form of electric analog signals according to material-specific properties, characterized in that the method includes a piezo sensor (4), from which the analog signal is passed through a cable (5) to a measuring unit (7), where the analog signal contained in the current signal is filtered with a filter (9), whereafter the signal is transferred to a threshold value control (11), where only the current peaks exceeding the threshold are passed to a cumulative counter (12), from which the readings are transferred to a computer (13) to form a file, on the basis of which the development of the emission is displayed with an output device (16) on real-time basis. 2. Measurement method according to claim 1 , characterized in that the signal to be measured, coming from the piezo sensor (4), is not transformed to a digital form, but it is processed all the time in the form of analog information before the counter (12). 3. Measurement method according to claim 1 or 2, character¬ ized in that by means of the measurement method, a continuous long- term material condition survey is performed during the use under normal use loads in real time. 4. Measurement method according to any of claims 1 to 3, char¬ acterized in that the analog signal is passed from the piezo sensor (4) through pre-amplifier (16) to the measuring unit (7), where the current signal is separated from the power supply with a separator (8) to form an analog signal entering the processing stage. 5. Measurement method according to any of preceding claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the filter (9) is a band pass filter, and the sig¬ nals that have passed it are amplified with an amplifier (10) before the threshold value control (11). 6. Measurement method according to any of preceding claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the frequency of the bursts contained in the signal is adjusted by means of a multivibrator (17) located between the threshold value control (11) and the counter (12). 7. Method according to any of preceding claims 1 to 6, charac¬ terized in that the data in the file are transmitted from the computer (13) by means of a modem (14) through a data transmission line (15) to a separate output computer serving as an output device (16). 8. Method according to any of preceding claims 1 to 7, charac¬ terized in that several piezo sensors (4) attached to different points in the object under survey are used, each sensor being allotted its own counter (12) and file.

Inventors: PATANIITTY PENTTI, PATANIITTY, PENTTI
Applicants: PATANIITTY PENTTI, PATANIITTY, PENTTI
Application year: 1994
Main classification: G01N29
IPC codes: G01N29